


Aim

by MysteryMuse



Series: Random Access Memory [16]
Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Gen, Guns, Male Friendship, Maverick Hunters, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-12
Updated: 2014-06-12
Packaged: 2018-02-04 09:06:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1773547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysteryMuse/pseuds/MysteryMuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I can still shoot," he said, with a hint of aggrieved pouting behind the words. "See?"<br/>Axl grinned more, "You can shoot, but you sure can't -aim-."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aim

  
"It's been how long since you handled one of those again?"  
  
Axl sat on the sidelines of the outdoor shooting range with a grin, perched on the sill of an empty, oversized window. His feet dangled, and his hands rested lazily along his knees. His green eyes were bright with impish amusement.  
  
Zero flushed, then stuck his tongue out at Axl and raised his arm again, squeezing out three quick shots from the pistol into the target down the hall. "I can still shoot," he huffed, with a hint of aggrieved pouting behind the words. "See?"  
  
Axl grinned more, "You can shoot, but you sure can't aim." He pointed toward the bright orange markers wafting in a concentric ring over the target-dummy's head.  
  
Zero's grade was a dismal 38%; two of his glowing shots had nicked the target, while the third had been wobbly, striking far to the right from the core ring, the equivalent of a shoulder-hit.

Zero turned a darker shade, inner motors rumbling as Axl giggled.  
  
"Axl, you're gonna be eating this thing in a minute!"  
  
Axl dropped off the wall and walked over, shaking his head. "You're seriously uptight about this, y'know? So you got pinned down by snipers that one time, and that was only 'cause the Tag Assist server glitched on us. You seriously gonna beat the crap out of yourself because you decided to specialize in melee instead of range when you've got two ranged shooters backing you up 99.99999% of the time? That's just dumb."    
  
Zero glowered at the ground for a moment, then exhaled, rubbing his hand along the top of his head. "One time's all it takes, Axl. One fuck-up. You think I like getting blown to shit and making everybody run around trying to vacuum up my nuts and bolts? And I didn't decide to specialize. The Mavericks did that for me when they rebuilt me without a Buster arm."  
   
Axl snorted, but his expression faltered. He sometimes forgot just how much older Zero and X were, how much more they'd been through. He shrugged off the thoughts, and he shook his head. "Not buying it. If you were really unhappy about your range, you'd have fixed it way before now. And don't make it out like you're being all heroic and sacrifice-y about it. This is all just 'cause you got _embarrassed_ , and the _great Zero_ doesn't like being embarrassed..." He put his hands on his hips and gave Zero a firm, challenging look. "Am I right or am I right?"  
  
Zero blinked in astonishment, then grumbled something affirmative with a scowl. "Fine. You're right. So less snark and more bang. Or you could help me so I can get through this faster. I downloaded all the technical crap and targetting equations weeks ago, but I still have to practice." 

Axl hmmmed. "Ah-ha. That's it!" He nodded to himself, pressing his fist into his palm as Zero blinked.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'll help you practice! I get some hangout time with you, and you get something more engaging than a bunch of dumb targets you'll just end up rote-memorizing anyway." Axl leaned forward, eyeing Zero's weapon. "Light gun practice range stuff is so boring. It's way too easy. I know just what to do!" He dashed down the hall to the target, examined it for a moment, then grinned and opened a panel on his arm, pulled a tool out, and then made a manual adjustment to himself based on...something.

Zero gazed after Axl, puzzled. "The hell?"    
  
The newgen closed his arm panel with a satisfied look and returned to Zero. "So basically... I just made myself a hittable target for that gun. Just had to check the the frequency ranges of wavelength accepted by the targets and then reset me n' the girls to scan for the same range." He took out one of his Axl Bullets, and idly flicked the muzzle toward Zero- a white dot of light tickled over the tip of Zero's head crystal. "Bang."  
  
Zero's eyes crossed at the flood of technobabble. "And the part of that I understood is that I can," He pointed the light gun at Axl and pulled the trigger, feeling the weapon vibrate in his hands to mark a hit, "Shoot you with this now?"  
  
Axl's nose twitched sharply as he was 'shot', and he nodded. "Yep! I'll count your hits and misses, too."  
  
"And you can't shoot me back?"  
  
"Erm, well... not with my girls working as passive receivers..." Axl scratched his head. 

Zero burst into a wicked smile. "Five second head start."  
  
"Ahhh! Wait! Not ready! No fair!" Axl yelped and ran around the corner; Zero whirled after him, cackling; the chase was on!  


End file.
